"I thank you for your hospitality. I will do what we can to help accommodate, and perhaps cook up a bit of food for everyone."

"Kurgen, it would be best if you went alone to the embassy. If my companions are not there, or worse that there is some kind of trap, only one of us is at any risk. As of now, even if they were captured, they would not know our current hideout."

Kurgen: You meet the usual crowd in the streets. Here in the dwarven district the bad mood is not as thick as in other parts of the city. Near the embassy a maison's apprentice tells the lastest news to his friend: "I tell you, they nearly had them. What other reason could there have been for the riot at the checkpoint?""Beats me. Now get back to work before the master beats you up." his companion answers.Inside you ask for news, but you only learn that the squires havn't arrived, yet. "Dere's a boy waiting in the third room. Sais he has a message for some Kugan or so. Probably for you."

Nebul: You help the crippled dwarf with the heavy stuff and turn the dark hole into a homely place. Well, at least a clean place better than a cell in the dungeons. When you offer to help with the food, he declines decidedly. "But maybe there is something else you can do if you really want to be of help. I can't ask you to leave the basement since it is my task to keep you safely hidden and going upstairs would put you in danger. You see, for some time now I want to clean up the mess here, but I can't because I can't move around the way I need to. That's because my pulley system is incomplete. But I can't complete it because of the mess. You see the dilemma?"

Dammitall. I was hoping there would be some news, a place to start at least. I shake it off as best I can and trudge down to the third room. Situated further back in the hall, this room most often serves as a waiting room for messengers of lesser import as well as the squires, pages, and other attending staff of visiting dignitaries, provided they aren't set up with rooms in the Embassy, which usually only happens if they are staying on for some time or if they are personages of great social standing. The King, for example, has permanent quarters here. Though he has never stayed in them. We have no visiting dignitaries that I know of, and my machinations have kept the King's men outside our walls anyway, so the boy, whoever it is, should have the big room all to himself. But who would be sending me a message? Perhaps the others found a way to contact me in hopes I could help them? I can only hope. Only one way to find out for sure. I stop outside the heavy oaken door and rap twice upon the rich wood. An old habit, borne out of politeness. I push the door open and step inside, speaking up as I enter, "I am Kurgen...I understand there is a message for me?"

Kurgen: You see him stroling around near one of the gold painted decorations in the wall. You would'nt be surprised to see fingerprints there if you looked for them, since the boy is obviously more used to the color of copper. Maybe a silver coin once in a while if he gets lucky. Before you stands a skinny boy not older than ten, with dirty brown hair and some missing teeth. He is barefoot and his clothes are little better than rags."Greetings and all that. Mat promised me a gold crown if I bring you his message. I want it first. Otherwise Mat can ask someone else to save his arse."

"This looks like a pretty big mess on your hands... you wouldn't be trying to lighten your load by any chance? Any gear or equipment you don't need that I may find helpful would be greatly appreciated."

Nebul: "You are a fine lad, I like you. Regardless of what the rumors say. The stuff here is mostly spare parts and I havn't looked through it for ages. If you find something of interesst while you help me tidy up, you may keep it. But I think one of your professon has little use for screws and slats, pipes and ropes, springs and bolts. But maybe I can tinker something of use for you."His description should give you an idea of what you can find there. Mixed in are some tools (like knifes, hammers, a saw and some things of unknows purpose) and some raw materials. You find strange mechanical gadgets that look broken or uncompleted: A strange crossbow with wires and cranks everywhere, a peg leg, a music box with several notes missing and so on.

I grimace and dig a crown from my recently weightier purse. Doesn't feel quite so heavy now. I flip the coin across the room. The kid deftly snatches the piece out the air and pockets it as though it was never there in the first place. "Now," I grumble, "get on with it."

I have the impression we lost some speed. That's why I want to know: Where and in which direction would you hope and/or expect the story to continue - both in the short and in the long run.For example: What would you hope for Nebul to find in the workshop and what will be his next move? What will Kurgen do once he finds the missing squires? Will Nebul stay passive and let the dwarves dictate your fate? How do you plan to contact Master Lawrence? And what will the both of you do about the possessed king?

Kurgen: The boy bites in the coin, then with a satisfied grin makes it vanish faster than you can follow. "Mat said to tell you: The door is blocked and the package can't reach its destination. It is safe for now, but the predators are close. Clear the way and he will deliver. Or you could provide a new destination, it's the same to him. He said you should buy four loafs of bread at Bastian's one hour before you 'clear the path'. Otherwise bring a bag of clothes to The Three Widow's Laundry and ask them to deliver to 'your home' once it is cleaned. Oh, and on a side note he asks you not to forget to reward him for his selfless deeds. He said something of full pardon, a new identity and protection. Before you ask: No I don't know where he or the package is now. Or what the package is. I don't even want to know. And don't ask how he contacts me. I'd have to kill you if you knew." He grinns as if he had made a good joke. "That's all. I will take my leave now. Good day to you, kind Sir."With a self-esteem you wouldn't exepct in anyone so young, he strides to the door.

Nebul: The dwarf instects the crossbow."Oh, that old thing. That's where it was. Hmm, sure. I made some modifications to the design so the bolt flies faster and hits harder. Then I noticed that it was too hard to draw, so I added a winch. For that to work I had to make the frame tougher. And in the end the thing got so heavy that the guy who ordered it wouldn't take it. I can see if I can make it work again. The bits seem to be in dire need of some oil and a new string. Hah, I have just the thing for it, if I ..."What follows is a long string of techno babble you can't make any sense of. But since he suddenly seems to be in a good mood, you nod helpfully when you think it appropriate.As time goes on you get lunch and spend most of the afternoon 'cleaning' the basement while Grimbold is upstairs in his workshop serving the few costumers he has and tinkering with your new crossbow.

I'm not really expecting to find anything in the workshop. Here's the long and short of the plan so far:

-Keep a low profile and stay passive until I learn the fate of my comrades. It sounds like they're safe but in-character I still don't know that for sure.

-Once the group is re-oriented, I want to get prepared to eventually storm the castle and kill off the necromancer. I have a series of pre-requisites before this pipedream is possible:1. Find Laurence. I'm hoping information on him turns up on its own, since I don't think leaving the city will be very easy and I can't look for him myself. His absence is just mysterious enough that Nebul might be starting to suspect he's imprisoned within the city somewhere.2. Make a distraction. The plague is helping with this, but the ultimate goal is to have the lion guard as occupied as possible before we infiltrate the castle and track down the necromancer. That might be made up from lots of criminals and miscreants trying to break in at a separate location, or a city-wide riot.3. Assemble a task force. This will probably be Nebul, Kurgen, whichever lions can still fight, Laurence, and whoever else will help us.

Task number 3 is the most possible right now, and I think will lead to the others. I will wait till we can regroup, then we start planning.

That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Mostly, I've been trying to secure the lot of them this whole time. Once we have all the pawns in place, I figured that's when we'd start heading for the King. Of course, I'm still subservient to Baldir, so I'll do what he wants ultimately, but I get the distinct impression that he wants this mess cleaned up almost as bad as the fugitives do. The diplomatic implications of leaving the king as is are too dire and the potential rewards for saving him are too great to ignore. I don't know that we've lost speed exactly, putting aside real time post lag. We all seem to have a clear idea of the plot, the NPCs and their motives, and our own character goals and drives. Which is a lot more than I can say for some RL games I've played in. I just think that this bit of the story is nearing that breakpoint. It's gone on about as long as its going to without dragging and we need to advance the plot is all. No biggie, as I've really felt the time was well spent.

Nebul: Later that afternoon there is still little else to do but clean out the basement. Out of curiosity or boredom you open some drawers. To your surprise you find not only junk, loose parts, dust and more junk, but also a pile of paper hold together with string. It looks old, yellow and rodents have nibbled on the edges, but you can make out the title of this, well, you hesitate to call it a book. It reads: An Introduction to Technomancy. Next to it you find a small thing that vaguely resembles a spider make of metal and wood.